Dear Readers,

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At the very end of this action-packed school year, we invited CIS Hangzhou 11 to craft short stories of 250 words maximum as the Summative Assessment of Unit 5.

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We reminded students that the best literature involves an intriguing plot, credible characters, tangible conflict and, often, taps into the collective human experience. As multilingual students, our students know the universality of many experiences of love/ hate/ conflict resolution/ existential queries of mortality/ simple joys/ humour/ inspirational creativity and a sense of purpose and direction in how we live. We encouraged students to tap into this awareness and write from experience and imagination. We emphasised the value of writing authentically as one would when telling a story to a friend.  Ultimately, we invited students to translate the final versions of their Summative Assessment stories into the language of their choice. This multilingual aspect illustrates the universality of many experiences and highlights these students' valuable international insight. 

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These were class-based, handwritten tasks for assessment. After the Summative, students typed up their stories to translate and become part of this collection. Minor typing errors or translations may still deliver the message effectively but sometimes need more nuance and refined linguistic accuracy. However, we are delighted by this rich, diverse collection of stories showcasing Horror/ Gothic/ Romance/ Historical Fiction (and more-!) in some 15 global languages. 

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We want to thank the coach mentors for proofreading the Chinese translations for clarity of message, specifically Xia Xuepu, Tang Xinkai, David Song, Kario Liang, Evol Guo, Leo Huang, Daisy Liu, Nora Luo, Alice Qi, Tina Mi, Polly Jin and Vivian Li. We thank Pan Laoshi for her reading the Cantonese-translated stories. We thank Mónica López Del Aguila and Yolanda Pascual for Spanish and French. For Afrikaans, German, Urdu, Hindi, Dutch, Italian, Korean, Indonesian, Tagalog, Hebrew and Japanese, we are enormously grateful for the generous efforts of Yolanda Brandt, Hong Yi, Albert Schürer, Sohaib Amjad, Arun Singh Choudhary, Xavier Voss, Vanessa Nostran, Jeannie Park, Mrs. Sundaja, Mary Jane Aguirre, Daniel Nahmias & Masayo Fushigama.

 

We hope this literary collection will travel far and wide this summer and entertain and bring fresh perspectives to its diverse audience; happy reading!

 

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The English Teachers: Caroline Money, Victoria Karagas & Adam Cruickshank

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Hangzhou, China 

May, 2024